But...when I come back, I'd like to restore my phone back to the way it is now (i.e. pre-jail break). Here comes the question: is there a way for me to move my iPhone backup to a safe spot (maybe a flash drive or something) so when I go to restore in a few weeks I can use this saved backup? I don't want backups that I do while I'm in Greece (from my laptop) to overwrite the "current / non-jailbroken" backup.

Maybe I'm making this too complicated - but I love my phone how it is now, and I want to get it back to this state when I return from my trip. Any suggestions?

For a 3GS, I recommend using purplera1n for the jailbreak and purplesn0w for the unlock.

When you return, you can just restore your iPhone, and assuming you backed up your iPhone prior to the jailbreak, you will have the option to restore that data. Your iPhone would the be returned to the same exact state as before you performed the JB.

Download purplera1n from purplera1n.com. To install purplesn0w, add apt.geohot.com as a repository with in Cydia.

Oh, one more point. After you JB with purplera1n, you'll have an app called "freeze". This installs Cydia for you. You will not see Cydia until after you reboot - of course after running Freeze. After you launch Cydia for the first time, let Cydia perform any updates it wants.

Edit: I'd image that if you just make a copy of the iTunes folder found in my documents, you could just save that to endure you don't loose anything. But it's not like you'd lose much. Mainly just SMS chat histories.

Thanks for the quick replies, I'll check out purplera1n and purplesn0w instead. I have serious fears of this - but somehow the $1.29/minute that AT&T wants to charge me for roaming makes it a bit easier.

Another real newbie question: what exactly does Cydia do? Is it like the JB version of the App store?

So...in regards to the backups: I can JB my phone, continue to backup to the same iTunes account for the next few weeks, then restore when I come home and my iPhone will be exactly as before but with the JB and unlock. Is that right?

If you return and no longer want JB and unlock, then restore and select a pre-Greece backup.

If you wNt to keep the JB and unlock, then you really don't need to do anything. If for some reason you want to reset your SMS, call log and stuff like they, then you would need to restore from the backup.

Sorry, this can sound confusing since restore refers to both software and data.

That's not factually correct. I discovered this when I upgraded from the 3G to the 3G[s]. I had jailbroken my iPhone 3G, and created a backup with iTunes. Now, the second that I got my 3G[s] home, I updated from the backup.

Nothing happened, except that it enabled me to tether without using the benm hack or hacking my carrier file.

Then, after I restored, I jailbroke using purplera1n. BEFORE I DOWNLOADED ANYTHING, certain stuff started appearing. For example, on my 3G, I had downloaded and installed the "Updated AT&T Carrier Logo", and it showed up as soon as I jailbroke my 3G[s], and I didn't redownloading or reinstall it. It was just there.

The same with the "3G Fireball Logo" and "Colorful Signal Bars". I didn't have to redownloading or reinstall any of them once I jailbroke, and they were already there.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE - some settings in some packages are backed up as well. For example, I installed 123Spoof on my 3G. I purchased credits from their website, and entered my PIN # into 123Spoof to validate the purchase. When I restored the brand new 3G[s], the PIN was already entered before I even opened 123Spoof for the first time on my 3G[s].

Nothing major or important, just wanted to point out that restoring DOES save some jailbroken details/settings/files is all.

Some JB data is saved during a backup. A while back, I had a JB 3G where the carrier string was set to mATT. I restored the phone and selected the JB backup to restore from. On my non-JB device, the carrier string was mATT still.